Re: Rowling outs Dumbledore

Originally Posted by E.P. Ripley

Wow, big thumbs down to J.K. Rowling. I guess she felt that she had to do something to keep yourself in the spotlight now that the books have all been published. The books give no indication that Dumbledore was gay. If she felt it was pivotal to the story she should have mentioned it. Who cares about sales. If this was really the character of Dumbledore and it is pivotal it should have been mentioned. In fact, at this late date it does nothing to explain anything in the story. It only confuses the plot and makes everything more confusing. For instance, before one assumed that Dumbledore's love for Harry was pure, like the love a father has for a son. Now it seems a little creepy that Dumbledore spends so much time in a private office with Harry.

The reason that it seems so creepy to spend so much time with Harry is that Dumbledore appears to be trying to replace his old love with Harry. Think about it, the other wizard that Dumbledore loved was a very powerful wizard. Harry, though still young will be a man soon and is also a powerful wizard. In his own mind Dumbledore sees his lover every time he is looking at Harry. This rather disturbing problem only develops when you make Dumbledore gay. You make him straight, how he actually is in the book imo, and this problem vanishes. You get a genuinely concerned parental figure and not someone who loves Harry because he sees in him his own lover.

She said that he was gay not a pedofile! To say that a gay man can't be a loving father figure to a boy is just ignorant. It has nothing to do with he and Harry's relationship whatsoever.

Re: Rowling outs Dumbledore

Originally Posted by E.P. Ripley

The reason that it seems so creepy to spend so much time with Harry is that Dumbledore appears to be trying to replace his old love with Harry. Think about it, the other wizard that Dumbledore loved was a very powerful wizard. Harry, though still young will be a man soon and is also a powerful wizard. In his own mind Dumbledore sees his lover every time he is looking at Harry. This rather disturbing problem only develops when you make Dumbledore gay. You make him straight, how he actually is in the book imo, and this problem vanishes. You get a genuinely concerned parental figure and not someone who loves Harry because he sees in him his own lover.

Read into things much?

You are projecting all your views into this.

The fact is, she is the author, and whatever she says, is how it is. She didn't bring up the subject, as you can see in the article, she was asked a question, and she answered it. Much of Harry Potter books are about diversity, and how we are stronger because of our diversity, and the different things we all bring to the table.

Also, gay men don't prey on children. Sick men do, AKA pedophiles.

It is hard for me to pick your strangest quote, but this one sticks out:

"In his own mind Dumbledore sees his lover every time he is looking at Harry."

You don't find this statement odd at all? How in the world you could produce that kind of thought, is beyond me. I can't help but wonder what is in your head. I do appreciate your opinion, and justification, but I encourage you to look up the theory of projection, it may prove enlightening.

Re: Rowling outs Dumbledore

Max Fischer
I think this quote of yours best illustrates the problem that I have with the fact that Rowling just decided to announce that Dumbledore was gay. You said

"The fact is, she is the author, and whatever she says, is how it is. She didn't bring up the subject, as you can see in the article, she was asked a question, and she answered it. Much of Harry Potter books are about diversity, and how we are stronger because of our diversity, and the different things we all bring to the table."

I agree with your statement about the author. You cannot change the authors original intent. However, there is another thing that makes me wonder if Rowling really intended to make Dumbledore gay. You say that the Harry Potter books are about diversity and I agree with you. However, because the books are all about diversity don't you think that they would have benefited from letting us know that Dumbledore was gay in the books? It seems that the only reason to obmit this fact was either because Rowlings never saw Dumbledore as being gay or that she was afraid to say he was gay earlier because she was afraid of offending people.

As far as offending people this should not have been a concern for someone who does not seem to care about now announcing that Dumbledore is gay. It seems than that this was not the reason that she omitted this fact from the book. Now I know people will say that some parents would have prevented their children from reading this book if she had announced Dumbledore was gay in it. However, I will say that there will be the same number of parents that ban these books from their house as before. So this does not seem to be an issue.

The issue that I think Rowling was after was the financial gain from announcing that Dumbledore was gay. The reason there is a lot to gain from this announcement is that the gay movement is larger today than in any other time in recent history and there are strong supporters against this movement. Rowlings stands to have free advertising on a product whose hype was starting to slow down. Think about it. All the papers are going to carry several articles about the controversies that this causes. There are also going to be news stations that want to talk to Rowlings about the controversy that she caused with this announcement. In short, by making this announcement Rowlings comes back from her final curtain call to appear again in the spotlight for a little while longer.

Now I know that someone is going to respond and say Rowling could not have been doing this because of financial gain because the question was randomly asked. Rowling did not volunteer this information. However, I think that it is pure speculation to say this because we do not know what would have happened had no one asked this question. I still maintain that the time was right for Rowling make some sort of big announcement to get herself back into the spotlight by generating controversy.

Re: Rowling outs Dumbledore

^^ Well I beg to differ that even plays into the equation.

I guess for me it's easy to understand why it would never come into play in the books.

The books are told from Harry's perspective, for the most part Harry did not ponder the romantic relationships of his professor's. He took his example from the Weasley's and what he knew about his parents.

Had he gone to Dumbledore to talk about romantic love, then, it would have been appropriate to the storyline to disclose Dumbledore's love life.

I agree JKR was asked a question, she answered, and again showed the depth of her work to bring the characters to life. To her, they were complete whole beings.

Re: Rowling outs Dumbledore

Ah, bigotry. We just can't accept that a character happened to be gay, now can we? It was for money! It was for publicity! I'm pretty sure Rowling does not need more money and has never been a publicity hound. How laughable. And of course, immediately likening him to pedophile is the next natural step for the intolerant and small-minded amongst us.

Sounds like she clearly intended for Dumbledore to be gay, but didn't explicitly state it. What, is she supposed to explicity provide every detail of every characters life, especially one with minimal "screen time" such as Dumbledore? The books would have to be 5000 pages long. Good writers have backstories written, at least in their mind, for their characters and universes. It helps them write for the characters in the here and now, and gives them depth and realness. One of the reasons the Original Star Wars worked so well is that the complete story of the characters and the universe they inhabited existed in George Lucas's mind.

Re: Rowling outs Dumbledore

Originally Posted by MTNGIRL

^^ Well I beg to differ that even plays into the equation.

I guess for me it's easy to understand why it would never come into play in the books.

The books are told from Harry's perspective, for the most part Harry did not ponder the romantic relationships of his professor's. He took his example from the Weasley's and what he knew about his parents.

Had he gone to Dumbledore to talk about romantic love, then, it would have been appropriate to the storyline to disclose Dumbledore's love life.

I agree JKR was asked a question, she answered, and again showed the depth of her work to bring the characters to life. To her, they were complete whole beings.

Re: Rowling outs Dumbledore

I don't know... I mean... I think it'd be weird if somehow in the middle of, I don't know a book where they went to Hogsmeade we read that Dumbledore and McGognal (sp?) were out on a date or something and Harry and his crew saw them. You don't think of your teacher's personal lives and when you knew that two of your teachers were dating it was a scandal! Gossip! It didn't have a place in the book with the exception of Hagrid.

Re: Rowling outs Dumbledore

Originally Posted by E.P. Ripley

The issue that I think Rowling was after was the financial gain from announcing that Dumbledore was gay. <snip> In short, by making this announcement Rowlings comes back from her final curtain call to appear again in the spotlight for a little while longer.

The book really has only been out for about 12 weeks, it's still in the top 10 bestseller list, we have one more book and 2 more movies to look forward to. The Harry Potter craze is far from being over. I don't think Rowling is needing to boost her sales at this point!

This backstory on Dumbledore was going to come out (ha ha, come out) in the HP encyclopedia/appendices anyway. Unless the question asker was planted in the audience, (and if so why wouldn't they have asked this question earlier in the tour?), we have no reason to think that she just made this up on a whim.

Re: Rowling outs Dumbledore

You get a genuinely concerned parental figure and not someone who loves Harry because he sees in him his own lover.

What?? Who says he sees Harry in his old lover? JK Rowling? You? Did I miss this in the book?

He's not a pedophile, he's a teacher and a gay man...and a powerful wizard.*

*This is the most bizarre sentence I've ever typed.

Originally Posted by E.P. Ripley

The issue that I think Rowling was after was the financial gain from announcing that Dumbledore was gay. The reason there is a lot to gain from this announcement is that the gay movement is larger today than in any other time in recent history and there are strong supporters against this movement.

OMG, that just made me laugh so hard. Thank you.

There are many many times that authors have private lives invented for their characters that no one knows about. People have hypothesized that Charlotte Lucas of Pride and Prejudice was gay. I love that. She marries a man she doesn't love, but why? To secure financial security for her family? Or perhaps because she knows she'll never find her true love in her society. I'd looooove to be able to ask Jane Austen about that.

I prefer Dumbledore to be gay and deeply affected by his love for his long-gone friend, than to be asexual. To believe Rowling would whore out her beloved Dumbledore for financial gain within the gay community is laughable.

Re: Rowling outs Dumbledore

Originally Posted by E.P. Ripley

Wow, big thumbs down to J.K. Rowling. I guess she felt that she had to do something to keep yourself in the spotlight now that the books have all been published. The books give no indication that Dumbledore was gay. If she felt it was pivotal to the story she should have mentioned it. Who cares about sales. If this was really the character of Dumbledore and it is pivotal it should have been mentioned. In fact, at this late date it does nothing to explain anything in the story. It only confuses the plot and makes everything more confusing. For instance, before one assumed that Dumbledore's love for Harry was pure, like the love a father has for a son. Now it seems a little creepy that Dumbledore spends so much time in a private office with Harry.

The reason that it seems so creepy to spend so much time with Harry is that Dumbledore appears to be trying to replace his old love with Harry. Think about it, the other wizard that Dumbledore loved was a very powerful wizard. Harry, though still young will be a man soon and is also a powerful wizard. In his own mind Dumbledore sees his lover every time he is looking at Harry. This rather disturbing problem only develops when you make Dumbledore gay. You make him straight, how he actually is in the book imo, and this problem vanishes. You get a genuinely concerned parental figure and not someone who loves Harry because he sees in him his own lover.

You make me laugh.

Clearly Dumbledore's sexuality wasn't of importance to the main story presented in the Harry Potter series. Like JRR Tolkien did with The Lord of the Rings, Rowling has created complete characters and histories here.

Tolkien added on appendices to his Lord of the Rings series giving readers the chance to delve even deeper into the story if they wished - but they didn't need to in order to enjoy the main story. Rowling just didn't release the appendices with her series yet.

This isn't a stunt to sell more books or remain in the spotlight as you so clearly think it is. I'm sure with two more films and a big theme park development based on her books, Rowling will have no problem raking in the dough and staying in the spotlight for some time.

Re: Rowling outs Dumbledore

Lame.

I'm sure that I'll get flamed by those who don't read this entire post, but all the same I think this is stupid. I really don't mind Dumbledore being gay, whatever, but I have to roll my eyes at Rowling making some big shocking revelation about a major character from a book series that is over when that big revelation has nothing to do with the storylines, was never mentioned or made known in the books, and is completely irrelevant. It just smacks of sensationalism and a refusal to let go. And let me reiterate, this has nothing to do with him being gay. She could announce that he was asexual, or collected stamps, or secretly raised gerbils to transfigure into house elves. The point is that making statements like this after the fact just to get attention cheapens the whole experience of being a fan of the books and makes me lose a little respect for Rowling. Now I'm wondering what's next: Hermione has a meth addiction? Hagrid is secretly the president of Avril Lavigne's fan club? Ron has ED? Come on... If the series is over, let it be over.

Re: Rowling outs Dumbledore

But the series isn't really over. I mean hasn't it been speculated that she's going to write another book in like 10 years on top of the appendix?

Jazzman I am kinda' with you in a way, but not really. I am kinda' irked she did it after the character was dead, not so much at the end of the series. It would have changed things to have her say this... before book 6 came out.

I don't know. I still think Aberforth is my favorite character next to Ron.